Coloradans await the outcome of the governor’s oil and gas task force’s work with trepidation, for good reason. This carefully scripted political theater has resembled a Gary Larson cartoon in which well-dressed dinosaurs discuss the path on which they are proceeding, while ignoring warnings about where that path is leading, a fate we know from hindsight.

We hope to forge a future different from the Pleistocene dinosaurs, but to avoid becoming Anthropocene dinosaurs, we need to turn rapidly away from fossil fuels — the main driver of climate change — and focus our immense human capacities on innovating and investing toward a livable planet.

A discussion among dinosaurs does not bode well for Colorado’s future as a healthy, habitable place. For those who prefer a better future, it is time to say to the dinosaurs and the oil and gas industry, “Enough — we want to go a different direction!”

Douglas Henderson,Fort Collins

This letter was published in the March 3 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

We’ve heard the argument for year-round daylight saving time. We’ve heard the argument for going on and off daylight saving time. Now let’s hear the argument for no daylight saving time. Several things come to mind. Not everyone has air conditioning. Think how nice it would be to have our houses cool off an extra hour before closing them up for the night. I bet families with children would appreciate putting kids to bed when it’s dark. Fireworks at 8:30 instead of 9:30?

Let’s quit moving the clocks and creating adjustments. There is no energy saved in this maneuver. The sun is up for the same number of hours. Perhaps we could change our own schedules.

Patricia Scott, Denver

This letter was published in the March 3 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

Daniel Genis does a good job of exposing how mainstream (and non-) religions “depend on the vulnerable to grow their numbers,” but he touches only briefly on how the incarcerated abuse their religious freedom.

By his own admission, Genis did not “choose” a religion or faith because of a religious conviction, philosophical belief or moral value; rather, for his own self-centered desire to be among “educated thinkers” with whom he could relate.
I have been incarcerated since 2010, and more often than not, I’ve seen offenders use religion and the resulting opportunities for their own benefit and to manipulate the system. I have yet to see an individual on a kosher diet who’s actually a practicing Jew (kosher meals are of better quality than regular prison meals); I consistently see prisoners using their new-found faiths for sentence re-considerations and appeals; and rarely do I observe a prisoner behaving in a manner appropriate to their religion or faith when it demands personal sacrifice or offers no personal gain or incentives.

There may be fringe faiths in prisons, but from what I have observed, the majority of offenders who may embrace a religion will abuse it and are not sincere.

C. David Fisher,Ordway

This letter was published in the March 3 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

Regarding Tuesday’s special election in Littleton, Krista Kafer is correct in identifying urban renewal developments as one strategy to “make the community stronger and a more desirable place to live, work and invest.” Littleton need only look to our neighbors — Lakewood, Englewood and Denver come to mind — and their highly successful urban renewal outcomes. Converting urban renewal decisions to costly citywide elections is certain to deter investment and restrict upgrades to Littleton’s commercial areas. The “let the people vote” message of Question 300 sounds seductive, but it is expensive, impractical and a surefire way for Littleton’s economy to stagnate. Littleton voters should reject this risky experiment.

Norman Stucker,Littleton

This letter was published in the March 2 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

As reported in your article, there are many issues that must be addressed prior to changing city ordinances allowing short-term rentals. First and foremost is the protection of the residential neighborhoods that could be impacted by such changes. Hotels and motels in Denver pay lodging taxes, provide safety measures for their occupants and are inspected by the city. Short-term rentals do none of these things because they fly under the radar, pay no taxes to city, state or federal government, and in most cases disrupt the neighborhoods they reside in. In short, they are illegal.

The Denver City Council, prior to making any changes in the short-term rental ordinances, must demonstrate that Denver can adequately enforce short-term rental provisions for the ultimate protection of its residential neighborhoods.

George E. Mayl,Denver

This letter was published in the March 2 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

As an obstetrician-gynecologist, I know firsthand that despite the gains made with the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion in our state, many women continue to have limited access to contraception. Many of my patients and other Colorado women are still unable to access health insurance. I also have patients who have health care coverage, but whose insurance companies impose prohibitive deductibles or coverage limitations that restrict their ability to access the birth control method that works best for them.

One of the reasons that the Colorado Family Planning Initiative was successful is that it removed a common barrier to contraception, namely the high up-front cost of long-acting, highly effective contraceptive methods such as IUDs. Contraception is an essential part of women’s health care.

House Bill 1194 would continue funding of this important family planning program, ensuring that more women in Colorado have access to the care they need.

Lisa Goldthwaite, M.D.,Denver

This letter was published in the March 2 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

Texas tried the killer of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend in a trial that lasted two weeks. His lawyers claimed insanity, but his activity after the shooting showed that he knew right from wrong. The jury took less than three hours to find him guilty and he was immediately sentenced to life in prison. Compare that to Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes. It has taken nearly three years, and the trial is supposed to take five months or more. His lawyers claim he is insane, but his actions show that he knew what he did was wrong. How long do we have to wait and how much money will it cost before justice is done for this monster?

Carol Brown,Denver

This letter was published in the March 2 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

Joel Achenbach bemoans increasing skepticism and erosion of respect for scientific process and assertions. I would counter that that’s a good thing. Questioning authority has always been healthy for allowing truth to prevail, and especially so in today’s world, where assertions made by “experts” and “authorities” are often rightly suspect. This is especially true of politicians, but now also of scientists.

The common element that corrupts clear and truthful legislative or scientific process is money. So much scientific research is bought and paid for by corporate special interests. Unfortunately, for the citizen trying to make considered, rational decisions, the money-trail bias in scientific studies is often obscured — intentionally so by the financiers of industry “science.” This has been true especially in the case of GMO research, and now, increasingly with oil industry shills who falsely claim a dearth of substantiated science demonstrating the environmental and human health dangers of fracking chemicals and processes.

The sooner we can get corporate money out of politics, and now science, the better off we will all be.

Robert Ferenc,Longmont

This letter was published in the March 1 edition.

The logical — though unanticipated — outgrowth of a nonjudgmental heterogeneous society is that it ultimately leads to people saying, “Your facts aren’t my facts.” This goes a long way to explain why water fluoridation opponents, vaccine avoiders, and deniers of human-caused climate change all flourish. In the absence of acknowledged authority, there may be no avoiding a return to beliefs based on random occurrences, spurious correlations, ignorance and superstition. All of which bodes ill for America if this country wishes to delay being supplanted by China as the leading power of the 21st century.

Guy Wroble,Denver

This letter was published in the March 1 edition.

The Sunday Post article on the public’s doubting of science is further validated in the March 2015 issue of the prestigious and credible National Geographic featuring “The War on Science.” This issue highlights misconceptions such as: 1) climate change does not exist; 2) evolution never happened; 3) the moon landing was fake; 4) vaccinations can lead to autism; and 5) genetically modified food is evil. Not included is high-voltage power lines cause cancer.

One of the reasons for the public’s doubt originates from right-wing conservatives who constantly berate science to pander to their constituents. Unfortunately, the Colorado legislature is well-populated with so many “science-doubters.”

Martin J. Allen,Centennial

This letter was published in the March 1 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

Your article in last Sunday’s paper on the banning of troublemakers from Denver’s 16th Street Mall was a ray of sunshine. It’s about time something was done by the city and law enforcement to clean up the jewel at the center of the city.

As a resident of the suburbs, I long enjoyed my trips downtown for dining and entertainment. However, my family and many of my friends have significantly curtailed our visits for the past few years because of the deteriorating scene on the mall. Aggressive panhandling, the increasing uncleanliness of the area, the constantly wafting stink of marijuana smoke, and the rising tide of criminal activity, such as the “knockout game” the police thought fit not to warn us was going on a few years ago, have combined to turn many metro residents away from enjoying downtown as often as we would have liked.

I was wondering when the downtown business owners would finally see what was happening to their fleeing customers and force action by the city to clean up downtown. Is this the start?

Dennis Pricolo,Aurora

This letter was published in the March 1 edition.

Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

Recent Comments

peterpi: I think I have this correct: Voters in Jefferson County elected school board members that the superintendent...

peterpi: Sounds good to me. For future employees. I believe police and fire dept. brass have also been known to get...